Memphis company takes a page from rabies control

A former FedEx Corp. executive and a group of scientists have teamed up to develop a product that could reduce occurrences of lyme disease around the U.S.

U.S. Biologic is a local biotech company that has developed an oral bait vaccine that is distributed to white-footed mice in fields around the Northeast. The vaccine is designed to prevent the transfer of lyme disease from the mice to ticks that bite them and then bite humans.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, lyme disease affects more than 300,000 people a year in the U.S. While the science behind the vaccine was solid, distributing it required a different kind of expertise.

Mason Kauffman, U.S. Biologic’s president and CEO, spent 20 years with FedEx in logistics, so he knew exactly how to go about distributing the vaccine-laced bait where lyme disease is prevalent.

“We know wooded areas, soil types, parks and every demographic of every property in the U.S. down to the square meter,” Kauffman says. “We can predict mice and tick populations and where they intersect with humans.”

Kauffman says a similar model was used 15 years ago to help prevent rabies. Bait with rabies vaccine was left out for wolves and raccoons in their habitats. That approach was so successful, there was only one reported case of rabies in 2013 in the U.S., he says.

“We want to change it from a danger zone to a treatment zone,” he says. “If we can be half as successful (as rabies prevention has been) with lyme disease, we’ve had a huge impact.”

U.S. Biologic is undergoing field trials to test the effectiveness of the vaccine’s delivery method. The product itself is being reviewed by the USDA. Respect for that process is why U.S. Biologic hasn’t marketed the product. But once the review is completed, the company is poised to grow quickly, with its target market being state and federal parks where campers and hikers spend time, as well as farmers throughout the Northeast.

“The option for a Memphis-based technology to have a significant impact on not only the nation, but the world is huge,” Kauffman says. “And I like the fact that this is as much about logistics as it is with biotech.”